West of The Imagination; 103; Images of Glory; A Roll

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when new years is an fn air earth know in the year eighteen sixty four there were still last unexplored regions in the west it's true the tens of thousands of

settlers and goatee the whole river of humanity that trekked across the plains to the promised land of oregon and california but few have cause to explore the high mountain fastness is of the rockies and sierra nevada loyola new old eighties these were no man's land beautiful but in hospital and so the defense is that the farmers work it's not surprising that these grand of a stir these places were first explored not by soldiers and settlers by dreamers artists poets and by a generation of scientists who were still romantic adventures of heart it and those days one could easily be both a

scientist and an artist equally at home with a precise measurements of the surveyors transit and the subtle colors of the painter's palette both were tools for capturing the grand euro the landscape and placing it in the american imagination preeminent among this band of romantic adventures was the geologist clarence king who is to be found on golden afternoons in october eighteen sixty four mapping the boundaries of the valley of the yosemite for the california geological survey apart from his official map making john king was a scientist trying to understand the geological forces that created what he called the top of california the rugged sierra nevada's it's been

one day taking a break from surveying king and his assistant walked across the valley over great slabs of granite worn smooth by glaciers can hardly enjoyed such johnson was the enthusiastic supporter of the strange and dangerous practice of climbing mountains and glaciers simply because they were there for the sheer excitement of the pleasure of it because on this particular afternoon he began a precarious a sense of the walls of the yosemite to a place that was to become famous king was looking for some some clue or explanation that would indicate the scientific theory of catastrophes in the world suddenly formed by violent titanic forces earthquakes volcanoes melting glaciers at the top of the canyon good morning

his description of that afternoon and when he saw his tinge where poetry for him the sheer power of nature was impossible to separate one's journey into the international picture of glacial period granted ice and snow silence broken only by the howling tempest in a crash four nights splintered rubble easily elements of that period which lasted a measure of the monkees imagine that

but maps and words and cataclysmic theories were not enough to capture the drama of yosemite one needed an image on a gigantic canvas paintings on a grand scale to convey this kind of scenery the public back east was eager to see such grand landscapes in eighteen sixty four a giant exhibition of art was mounted in new york city to raise money for the wounded soldiers of the civil war ladies and gentleman huey the rail lines all living life without brothers in arms of law and we have presumed again each case after well we bought and sold and download our game as lively and that's a rain delay as if a piece of the country have no higher than the rubble this was quite an auspicious moment for the artist albert pierce that sends one of his greatest paintings called the rocky mountains was to be judged in these halls and

inevitably compared to this huge canvas this is the heart of the andes it was painted by the great frederick church who had already received considerable a plan for such exotic earth's gates of south american jungles well you know the artist were friends the press herald of the fair is a no holds barred contest for public favor of a showdown between giants who both created paintings of gigantic dimensions the idea for the scene in rocky mount or inserting into that region oh i shall be very glad i found the seeming to be beautiful mountains they resemble very much good news out one of the finest ranges of mountains of all of europe not what was unique about this kind of painting was that it was both the mens and intricate visitors to the exhibition brought or rented opera glasses to zero in on the details during the filming of

marsden this is big on the peak that compulsion jagged summits covered with

snow mingling with the clouds the prison to see which the remote rugged landscape ladies upon what i'm qualified the right but for the four marines want to whether or not they think and it's awful major eugene full of agents and sometimes terrifying was his theme when the exhibition of the rocky mountains there's that won considerable recognition from the new york daily he painted his first big landscapes in europe paintings like his pastoral view of the swiss alps then in the american rock is there's that expanded his he was particularly inspired by this high alpine landscape in the wind river mountains of wyoming but his painting a violin lake is quite different from the actual sea he soften the image of a landscape is suffused with a romantic life

there is stout created a mythic line based on his own idealized dream this is one of the beer stats most remarkable words was not only a testament to the divine grander of nature it's also a memorial to the artists love for a beautiful woman the painting is called a storm in the rocky mountains mom rosalee you the inspiration for the work was rosa lee osborne ludlow she became mrs beers stat after the artist's of those you're away from her previous husband fish you ludlow he was a journalist and a writer of a celebrated book on the drug cult of hashish and he had been a friend ludlow and accompany the artist on his tracks in the west he created a picture in the words of the rocky mountains the same kind of dramatic and mystical image appears that was putting on

campus an everlasting sabbath graced the mountains climbing range on range to the phone glittering smile they like just as a feather after the lost soul has ascended out of the mountains seemed hopelessly apart from us like the glorious you try and raw spinach rain yes it was this very hopelessness that gave them all the dreams grand jury and made him seem rather like great thoughts to great lengths to see the rocky mount in bright sunlight to bring vast voiceless happiness which they seem set there to embody his strangest and excuse me pleasure no animals seen any person within a decade of the civil

war the no man's lands like clarence king pioneered the unknown regions that there's that painted and ludlow this cry became a magnet for the new adventures in the west the tourists when iran made this painting a pleasure seekers a glacier in yosemite barely a hundred yards from the spot where clarence king stood on this jutting rock an invasion his world of geological a photographer who some believed to be william henry jackson took this famous photograph of himself perched on the same rock quite so that became all the rage ranchers to earth to have their pictures taken doing all sorts of ridiculous and sometimes that's fine none of these shenanigans

seemed to detract from the allure of yosemite to syria's painters and photographers their star himself was their only eighteen seventies in those photographs by edward my brain tissues seem painting an indian council members said he also played of tourists were arriving in increasing numbers to marvel at the beauty of the valley and who picnic at the base of nevada fall but most important was the artist continual striving to come up with the ideal a perfect picture of the valley of the yosemite although they approached it in different ways both painters and photographers face the same challenge almost any image could show you precisely how the place lit but it was a great deal harder to show how it felt feeling the sublime impression a landscape could make them the mind's eye there's something elusive and ephemeral and his effort to capture

this we arranged the familiar landmarks of yosemite and they weren't imaginary landscape and suffused to nowhere is artistic liberties more apparent that and sunset in yosemite or one feels one is standing at one end of a huge titanic room gazing into an inferno meanwhile the photographers were accomplishing a very different effect each trying to outdo the other seo we'd one of the first like the play's figures casually posed on the edge of precipices for dramatic effect his competitor carleton watkins was more interested in showing pristine landscapes undisturbed you know this was the first time anyone seriously said about taking pictures of an empty landscape a land that seemed outside of human time without explorers are tourists

posing for posterity watkins greatest rival in the competition for the grandest and most sublime pictures of the assembly was edward my bridge a friend a beer stats and like him or confirm dramatic my bridge frequently had himself lord by ropes to precarious viewpoints to make pictures like this you and falls of the yosemite from glacier point the crisp dark rocks and vegetation and the foreground or a slippery perch upon which the viewer pauses to catch a glimpse of the infinity extending out before him my brave saw the landscape like a stage set for ground dramas epics of darkness and light thanks to such photographs of american public that once relied on one of a kind exhibitions of landscape paintings could now via western scenery in their own homes

for a photographer in the eighteen seventies covering the western landscape than an incredible amount of hard traveling patients and a fair share a plane or good luck not only did he have to risk like finland climbing to improbable in precarious places he and his assistant had to carry on your back an entire portable dark room to develop the glass negatives on the spot with the camera itself was usually and that's the bigger the glass played it could hold the better and i was as fragile as it was on we'll be to make a picture you first had to compose the frame then focused the lens make fine adjustments of compositions and focus on the ground last of the rare the camp

three and then select an aperture slide to determine how much like you would let people onto the field with when everything was set and only then your assistant would bring you a what glass plate negative in case to like prove holder and dripping with a freshly prepared light sensitive solution you download the plate holder in the camera promoted slight shield and take off a lens cap this was the moment of truth and the image was actually being made it could take up to an hour compared to the mere fraction of a second the cameras recorded day when the exposure was completed your assistant would have to hurry back to the portable darkroom and develop the image before the web plate right then and only then if everything went

right you have a glass negative that you could use this negative to make positive prince in your studio provided it wasn't smashed the civilians on the long road all you do oy law refers use this laborious process all their gear all over the west the eighteen sixties and seventies kennedy o'sullivan who owned this dark room on wheels made this picture of the canyon to sherry in arizona o'sullivan was the official photographer on a tenant wheeler's expedition in eighteen seventy three the canyon deep in the red rock country of the southwest became a favorite spot of artists and photographers alike a stronghold of the ancient and mysterious anasazi civilization the grand canyon became the focus of several investigations aided by the

camera scientists realize that analysis of the rock's traveling revealed in the canyon walls would provide clues to the primeval history of the whole continent arizona colorado new mexico all over the west artist's vision of the land was being challenge by the remarkable invention of the camera and news is to do the mom long i'm the last stronghold of visual splendor to be penetrated by the image makers was certainly the stranger there are legends about it long before there were liable pages tall

tales of mild mannered loan prospectors would stumble across its boiling rivers planes via man who called it a vision of hell out of her in eighteen seventy a small group of explorers camped here at the junction of the gardner went viral rivers in what is today yellowstone park sitting around a campfire on a september evening panel discussion on a remarkable idea an idea that has since become a legend at an institution the leader of the expedition recorded his account of this discussion in his diary his name was no time you'll be lying there in this intimate twenties are eating something last night and this morning encampments are part in a rather unusual discussion proposition was made that we were as a result of our expression for profit mr hedges city did not true that apparently

no private ownership and that should all be set aside for a great national park and that each one of us made an effort to say this is accomplished lead these lenders are so different from anything i've ever seen that that pass along that frankly to fund existing so an interim solution in the year after they were arrested and foremost actual mccain's so for isis because the movies do with it is

a fresh exempt scenes dish and since the phone company a year later an official us government expedition was back in the yellowstone country trying to discern fact from fiction its leader was one of the few men of influence who had taken langford seriously when he came to washington to report on his travels this was ferdinand hayden the geological survey of the territories along surveyors to make maps as clarence king a gun in yosemite six years before he also took along the photographer william henry jackson who would later become famous for his fearlessness sense of the highest pinnacles from which to take pictures

this illustrious group was joined by the artist thomas moran this frail timid gentleman appeared more at home in a studio than tracking around the western wilderness and yet he was to prove more than a book or that that's in fact moran the artist was deeply challenged by jackson's imposing what plate cameras since people believe that the camera could not like moran was honor bound to render truthfully the same incredible landscapes but with the addition of subtle color india this is quite possibly the first time in the expiration of the west we have a photographer literally peering over the major's shoulder while the painters were challenge them complimented what the camera saw in indian the impact of these images on the

american public was tremendous a fire people's imagination the same way that the first pictures of man walking on the moon a hundred years later then live a richer onto influential members of congress and became key evidence to support langford space of yellowstone was unique and should be preserved in eighteen seventy two the area was set aside as the first national are not only the first national park in the united states but in the world then it's

blue a last grand empty panorama is would not remain empty for long america was enthralled by the images of yosemite and yellowstone the railroads moved west ms years before the first tracks were laid an influential member of congress senator thomas hart had predicted that the railroad would bring the most rapid expansion of the human race that man had ever been held the road will be made he ages progressive and utilitarian settlement will promote the road aggrandize to settlements and saying there will be a lion of towns and cities villages and farms and then rates will be a land that stalin of warm reception along its track mrs quaye

a point that that happened and so the railroad became the civilizations progress of the us triumphant march which for better or worse overcame everything in its way a union pacific grows in west central pacific hi nice to see you as one newspaper put it a grand and build cars was playing across the triple time response to the us owing tens points to the rail four hundred miles to the

mile at two hundred miles to san francisco twenty one million times on the sledge is that he's twenty one million times are going to come down with their sharp punctuation before the great works of modern america is living a swarm of journalists and photographers was on hand to tell the american public about the new great road to empire a j russell was perhaps the most famous of these and most of his pictures we see tiny human figures set against the immense scale of the western landscape william henry jackson when on the yellowstone expedition made this image of a train rounding a band and seeming to define nature herself believe the towering canyon wall but not all the photographs that were taken were glorious and grant some

documented the frequent perils of railroad building with a growing hard labor performed by thousands of chinese were little more than slave wages erin go home documented the work of vigilantes and the rugged towns that sprung up along the tracks hell on wheels communities populated with thieves prostitutes gunfighters and anyone out to make fast money finally i'm a temp at and sixty nine the great road was completed this moment was captured in a famous photograph by aj russell it was quite possibly the most important historical event since the end of the civil war the driving home of the golden spike a commentary point utah a pit mines the conquest of the cotton ball up and down the crack was a grand investors and tourists were

invited to witness the great fruits of engineering in the midst of life only yesterday had been severed tunnels blasted through round of mouth two thousand mile span the whiskey here was proof positive of man's dominion over nature the pittsburgh my family comedy called across the company sold thousands of copies but not everyone benefited from the railroad or accepted this message of symbolize prosperity and wellbeing

in nineteen fifty the entire western half of the continent was still inhabited them largely controlled by over a hundred and fifty separate tribes of indians the first transcontinental railroads snaking across the plains and mountains i'm eighteen sixties only claimed a narrow strip of land twenty miles wide on either side of the tracks but within thirty years many more lines were crisscrossing the indian land the tribes resisted and were portrayed as villains trying to block the path of progress but this was a life and death struggle for the indians who found their lands being stripped of their most essential resource the buffalo professional hunters slaughtered bison by the car load shedding the polls back east in nineteen seventy three the combined western railroads accounted for the shipment of these to one hundred quarter million

wrong as a result of this carnage the canadians were literally starving and freezing the artist albert beer stands romantically memorialized in a painting he called the last of the bottle in the virtual extinction of the american bison was no actually it was a conscious government policy starvation was the most efficient cheapest way of classifying the ground no man was a more ardent supporter of this the general william tecumseh sherman would become notorious in the civil war for is celebrated and brutal march to the sea and at a sixty seven he spoke these words to a delegation of indians the treaty council you see for yourselves a white man or advancing in all directions and it's why don't want you can do that was so have all the good land in

the country so that unless you choose all now it may be too late next year you cannot stop them any more than you can stop the sun on the moon and you must submit and do the best you can for yourselves they hardly think of what you call wore out here that they make up their minds they will come to the plains as thick as grasshoppers are the largest herd of buffalo and the will can you all this commission is not a peace commission only it is a war commission a great father wishes to be kind of a liberal to the indians of the plane's if they keep peace and if they were not here reason would go to war he then commands the rose be made safe by a war that will be different from any you have ever had before not

all the indians who heard these threats believe the parades and skirmishes that ensued in the following years between the plains tribes in the us cavalry became the stuff of legend can be depicted over and over in popularizing however the legend of the indian wars that is depicted in painting does not match the ghastly facts documented by the camp or this is the site of one of the final and most ignominious exploits of the us army and the west will give me a supplicant december of eighty nine in this mass grave a hundred and forty six indian men women and children were stacked like oregon and they are disarmed and in virtual kept getting paper cut down by the

hotchkiss guns of the seventh cavalry there had been little provocation by popular standards these scenes were not suitable for free instead artist competed to portray the valor of their paintings presented a glorious though often one sided view of history to the artist frederic remington the western trooper was a flamboyant and said he wanted to paint men with the archive military man of courage who flees to savage for the show to be in bottles from the troopers point of view like this portrayal of the battle of war by the creek he called this parading through the small spine their young so remington also thrilled

with the thunder in syria until the advent of the machine gun this was the most devastating about that a rival of remingtons charles schreiber well painted similar cavalry action pictures although we paid occasional visits to the western plains he did most of his work with posed models on the roof of his studio in hoboken new jersey it's because because because set my body won a prestigious award at the national academy of design in nineteen hundred and became an emblem of romantic heroes likewise in the summit springs rescue schreiber will elevated buffalo bill cody the position of hero of the battle in which he played only a minor role

at tribal also portrayed a confrontation between the kiowa cheap september and general george armstrong custer both on campus and in real life cluster seem to embody american military are against and determination at the center of controversy throughout his life he was to become the subject of one of the most enduring american myths as a young officer he been court martialed for mistreatment of his men and then honored for virtually wiping out a peaceful cheyenne village in eighteen sixty eight six years later he commanded a military expedition into the sacred labs of the sewage i am known as the black hill custer's margin of these mysterious pills pills and direct violation

of the key and the intrigue and it said in the motion a complex of devastating chain of events is that is one of the strangest ironies in american history that while custer was writing to his death from the little bighorn america was celebrating her one hundredth birthday the eighteen seventy six philadelphia centennial exposition amy the progress of a few hundred soldiers on a remote western plan was a back page ad compared to the headline news of the great santini millions of visitors flooded the exposition halls and marveled at the latest and greatest accomplishments civilization all over the world there were few curiosities and relics of america's native cultures mostly dominated by fbi

has been the destiny of the nation than a century you know this company demonstrated the pristine part of this was one of the inventions that makes skyscrapers and is the centerpiece of the war

department just play with the world's first machine the buyer three hundred and ninety three rounds a minute of custer had taken one of these on his march to the little bighorn events might have turned out very differently instead general george armstrong custer two hundred and fifty men of the us seventh cavalry fell here there's no direct relation between these two events custer's last stand of the american centennial no relation save for this that one is the somber consequence of the other that the depth of custer and his entire command was the consequence of broken treaties push for go more space and more resources to fuel the thrust of a technological civilization journalists attempted to

reconstruct the battle and photographers recorded the aftermath but none of custer's men had survived to account for what had happened in the absence of facts history was transformed into legend this is the first published depiction of custer's last stand it appeared in the new york graphic but two weeks after the battle although his picture is not the best it's probably the most familiar it was distributed the saloons across the country it anheuser busch company for ten years and it really is introduce visitors classic compositions

as host to represent any specific figure in the center is not a customer instead he's the universal hear a true a mythological character that transcends time and place but there's another very different account of the events that occurred on the little bighorn it's less grand and more enigmatic and yet quite possibly it's closer to the truth these are drawings made by actual participants in the battle and the lawyers who fought and won against custer a newspaper and colored pencils to drop a record of that momentous fact these are known as ledger paintings because the pieces of paper on which they were made were torn from cavalry ledger books books sometimes taken from the dead on the battlefield similar to the stark photographs of the indian corpses at wounded knee

there's no confusing melodrama here about a year after the battle of the little bighorn a reporter for the new york herald traveled to canada to interview an eye witness to the battle this was sitting bull one of the great as spiritual leaders of the un papa sue singing bow have foreseen the indian victory over custer univision induced by the ritual tortured of the sundance it's because of what happened jesus is soldiers were long hair you not named a tremble before your people because they were afraid

this is be horses to ensure liked the ladies of the cyprus anyway for their work and their warriors to meet they were his our young men mainly live across the river and told the white plains back

and then also over themselves as ben davis bosch all right it's been the party lord commander keep fighting until the last

jesus said singing boll outlive custer by fourteen years he was finally shot and killed by some of his own people acting as reservation police they had been trying to arrest him the peak during the eighteen eighties organized indian resistance came to attend public outrage over because domestic beer and i'm sure there would be enough troops to contend parades were held towns of glory we're playing the indian war was declared over

and raising these are the black hills of south dakota which cost her head or two years before the little things they have been protected as indian lands of the great sioux treaty of eighteen sixty eight the cheyenne and the sue still consider these hills to be sacred literally the center of the world ironically these hills have been used in this century create a shrine to american democracy like colossal statues of

ancient egypt they use of washington jefferson and lincoln teddy roosevelt now stand guard over the black eel rushmore this grand emblem of the white man's history and race revive ten thousand years but some say the spirit of the native american still claims the strange land again raise a no